Construction of ships&#39; hulls



.Unirse stares HENRY ANGUS NICHOLSON, OF AUCKLANI), NEW ZEALAND,

Specification of Letters Batent. A

Patented Jan.V s, 1922.

Application filed November 19, 1918, Serial No. 263,154. Renewed July 5,1919. 'Serial No.4 308,832. i

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, HENRY ANGUS NICHOL- SON,subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at 95 Queen Street,Auckland, in the Dominion lof New Zealand, have invented `new `anduseful Improvements in the Construction of ,Ships -lulls; and I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and eXact descriptionof the same.

This invention has been devised for the purpose of providing an improvedmethod of constructing ships7 hulls by the adoption of which importantadvantages are obtained both'in the'cost of construction and'in thegeneral working of the ships after construe tion. i l

Hitherto it has been custom-ary in the construction of ships hulls, forthe frames to be formed of varying contours from the bow tothe stern inorder to obtain the vertical and longitudinal sweeps of the ships sidesand also the pitch of their bottoms. This necessitates 'the employmentofhighly skilled labour in the designing of the ship and also theemployment of highly skilled workers in the carrying out of the design.

v/Vith the adoption of the present invention the necessity for theemployment of highly skilled labour in the designing of the vessel isobviated by the employment of a method of constructionunder which thedesigns of all hulls are made tofollow regular standards governed by aconstant form of framing for the hull differing only in the breadth andheight of. their members in accordance with the vnature of the vesselconcerned.

The invention therefore consists in coni structing ships hulls offramesformed by ribs extending outwards from each side of f a keel framein the ordinary manner, but all `of which` ribs are ymade of the samecontour.

That is to say, each rib is made so as to incline `outwards and upwardsfrom the keel at a set angle, to form ythe ships bottom, and then at itsouter end to turn in a curve vertically upward to form the ships side.4

All of such ribs in the hull follow the same angle of inclinationof'their bottom yinembers so that they all, whether made ofwood, ormetal, may be out or formed by ma ohinery suitable for the purpose uponthe same lines. The length of the ribs ,bottom and side members willvary from the bow to the 4stern sothatfthe required long'itudi-` nalsweep of the sides fromthebow tothe stern may be provided for intheassembling of thefribs upon the keel. Likewise the heights of thevertical members of the ribs will vary in order to obtain the sweep ofthe ships bottom from bow to stern. in all ribs however, the angle ofthe bottoms to the sides is the same. f This angle may, however, bevaried at will' in different ships according to the purpose for whichthe ship is to be employed,'theangle of thebottom to the keel beingmadeflatter as greater space and less speed is required. Also,the, curveof the rib to form thebilge, as it bends from the bottom member to thevertical may be varied to suit different requirements al-4 though allthe ribs in` each hull have a uniform curve. y l.

The keel in such a 'construction'may be made `to extend `upward as abulkhead throughout the full height of the hull'and for its full length,the upper ends of the ribs beingk joined` thereto by the cross deckbeams extending horizontally between them. kvAi hull frame thusconstructed may be covered by steel plates that may be riveted or weldedtogetherfon to the ribs in any of theapprovedways, or may be covered inby wooden planking. i

The method i herein is illustrated inthe accompanying diagrammaticdrawings of the frame of a hull it kbeing understood that as the methodmay be varied in its' details to accord with different circumstances,the drawings can only beconsidered as illustrative thereof.

.In such drawings v Figure 1 is a plan, and s Figure 2 a side elevationof the frame, showing also in dotted lines the contour of Figure 3 isahalf front elevation, and half cross sectional elevation lookingtokwards the sternof the frame.

The Vframe is constructed with aycentral keel plate A, which rmay extendright up the full depth of the hull to constitute ak of` constructioninvolved l ,thehull when completed by the plating or l planks employed.y

longitudinal bulkhead dividing the hull into two independent halves inorder to lessen risk of sinking Athrough damage of Vany kind' to thehull. To the keel plate the transverse ribs B are :fastenedl in any ofthe approved and known methods, these ribs being arranged at-therequired distances apart.V These ribs, also, in this invention are lmadeof uniform contour throughoutV and the bow in order to provide for thelongitudinal sweep of the ships beam, as indicated by the dotted linesin Figure l. Likewise the kvertical members vary in length,

decreasing as they extend from amidship toy the stern but increasing inlength as they `extend from amidship'to the bow, in order,

thus to obtain the desired shear and cutwater for the hull, as indicatedin Figure 3 AVand by the. dotted lines in Figure Q, the )points of theribsV attachment to the keel 'plate'A varying to correspond.V

Owing to the shape oi" vessels as heretotore constructed, the water isopenedr by the bow when the vessel is sailing,-starting a wave, but adifferent direction is given to the water a few feet' Yfrom the bow,producing a second wave, while a few feet farther von, the water istwisted in still a different direction, making a third wave, and so on,while muchboiling" and commotion of water isproduced under the counter;all orp these churnings of the water using up power and retarding thevessel. c the invention is to avoid this loss of power, and to this endthe water is caused to have an even iiow, by starting the angle of thewater cradle at the ships fore foot, and preserving this angle for theentire sub merged length of the vessel. The hull has an upright stem,which terminates in a tore toot, and the water Opens at the bow, andthere is merely an increase in the extent of this opening `to the pointof greatest beam, and then there is a gradual decrease .of the openinguntil the water leaves the ships stern. The door of the ship is con*tinuous and of uniform inclination from bow to stern, Moreover the bowportion of the floor gives the ship an easy pitching motion, and has atendencyV to lift the bow when the ship is in motion, because said bowportion of the iioor slopes down at a. slight angle toward the midshipsection.

At all speeds through the water the hull One ot the objects ot will trimitself, and its shape will conform to the displacement of the waterwhich is effected by the fore portion of the ship. Whatever angle theship makes in going through the lwater at any speed, at all speeds shewillform that particular angle, to suit her hull. The hull has a sharpprow and is so shaped that the angle of entrance into the water isalways substantially preserved until leaving the water. The floor is thesame angle from one end of the vessel to the other, so as to 'form aperfect sweep, without any doubles or twists in it for the watertoiollow. The water flows easily around it, without changing the shape otthe depression in the water, or twisting the water into otherangles inits travel along the ships side.

The rise of the hull from the 'middle fore and aft, or in other wordsthe spring of the hull, is to make the vessel easy in a head sea. Theship pitches easily and lightly. The angle from the keel to the bilgeallows great' beam without pounding ina head sea, besides giving speed.It also prevents drag ot dead water. 1 The great width of bottom givesgreat stability, and the angle of the tloor, that is, the Vline oi'inclination of the Vfloor to the bilge, gives easy stability, an

easy swing. The skin friction islargely reduced, and the liability orprolling is also greatly reduced. The ship is easy in the sea, and doesnotpitch over and roll Vquickly Von its beam ends and right back again.The

ship will go over slowly, and pick itself up slowly, and cushion itself.

It will be seen that a tast vessel with line lines andA a clean hull maybe constructed with broad beam, and that vmy invention givessubstantially greater carrying capacity and substantially more stabilityttor a given length. Then the boat heels over, it Yhasa tendency tocreep to Windward. To explain this feature, it will be noted that oneach side of the bottom of the boat has a fair amount of bed rise, thatis, the angle from the keel to the bilge, and that the line of theVbottom'is substantially straight,rthe bottom forming one continuousplane from tore toot to counter, the plane being curved from amidshipsto give the required rise toward bow and stern. The floor of the boat onthe lee side is of ample breadth and length to stabilize or carry theboat when it is pressed over toeither side, and the resistance to theboats progress is much eased on the Windward side, and consequently thepower impellingthe boat tends to turn it i towardV the side otl'essresistance, or in other words to turn the boat as on a' pivot 'orfulcrum located about at the point where under portion of the vessel onthe Windward side, the vessel tendingto shear toward the weather bow.

1. In ships hull, a hull frame having its transverse ribs each formed ofa bottom portion and a side portion, the bottom por'- tion of each ribextending outward and upward at an angle from the keel and then curvingto the vertical to form its side portion, the angle of inclination ofall the ribs to the keel being thesame and the radius of the curve asthe ribs bend to the vertical being thesame in all the ribs.

2. A ships hull having a stern terminating in a forefoot and having asharp prow and formed to cause the kwater to have an even How, bystarting the angle of the vwater cradle at the forefoot, andsubstantially preserving this angle for the entire submerged length ofthe Vessel, the flow of the hull being continuous and of substantiallyuniform outward and upward inclination from bow to stern, the bowportion of the ioor sloping down at a slight angle toward the midshipsection, said floor having relatively great width, the bottom formingone continuous plane from forefoot to counter,

the plane being curved from amidship to give the required rise towardthe stern, the sides of the hull extending below the water line from theyfoot substantially to the counter and forming the same angle with thebottom throughout substantially lthe. entire submerged portion of thehull.

3. A ships hull formed so that the water opens at the bow, and so thatthere is merely an increase in the extent of this opening to the pointof vgreatest beam, and then a gradual decrease of the opening until thewater leaves the stern, said hull having a stem terminating in a footand having a.

sharp prow and a floor extending substan-` tially from the foot to thestern, said floor being continuous and having a substantially Vuniformline of outward and upward `inclination from the keel to the bilge andsubstantially from bow to stern, the bow portion of the floor slopingdown at a slight angle toward the midship section, and the stern portionof the floor sloping slightly upwardly, the hull curved upwardly fromthe floor at the bilge to form straight sides substantially throughoutthe submerged portion of the hull.

4. A Vshipshull having a stem-terminating in a forefoot and having asharp prow and also having a floor extending substantially from theforefoot to stern, the floor having a uniform outward and upward anglefrom keel to bilge substantially throughout its length so as to form asubstantiallyperfect sweep, the hull curving upwardly at the bilgetoform straight sides, the vangle of the floor with the sides beingsubstantially uniform throughout the submerged portion of the hull.

5. Aships hull having a forefoot and also having a floor extendingsubstantially from the forefoot to stern,the floor having ka uniformoutward and upward angle from ber, 1918.

HENRY Anous NroHoLsoN.

